Monthly Archives: April 2014

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Attorney Charles Cooper, who argued in favor of California’s anti-gay marriage Proposition 8, speaks in a courtroom during a California State Supreme Court hearing in San Francisco, Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011. Cooper is helping his lesbian daughter plan her same-sex wedding. Photo by Paul Sakuma/AP.

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By Julie Pace, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — The lawyer who argued before the U. S. Supreme Court in favor of upholding California’s ban on gay marriage learned while he was handling the case that one of his children is lesbian and now is helping her plan her wedding with another woman.

Attorney Charles Cooper says his view of same-sex marriage is evolving after having argued in court that gay unions could undermine marriages between a man and a woman.

The revelation is an unexpected footnote in the years-long debate over Proposition 8, the California measure struck down by the Supreme Court last year. It is also offers a glimpse, through the eyes of one family, of the country’s rapidly shifting opinions of gay marriage, with most public polls now showing majorities in favor of allowing the unions.

Patrons from The Patch, a gay bar in Wilmington owned at the time by Long Beach resident Lee Glaze, hold bouquets outside the Los Angeles Police Department Harbor Station during the 1968 “flower power” protest against police harassment. The protest is a significant milestone in gay history. It took place a year before the Stonewall Rebellion in New York City. Photo courtesy of Lee Glaze.

LONG BEACH – Though little known, the gay civil rights movement has some of its earliest roots in the Long Beach area.

Many historians say the gay community’s fight for justice and equality began in New York City in 1969 with the Stonewall Inn riots, a series of violent demonstrations by gay people against a police raid.

However, 10 months earlier, Long Beach resident Lee Glaze became a gay rights pioneer when he led a nonviolent rebellion against Los Angeles police harassment at his Wilmington gay bar, The Patch.

“The gay civil rights movement didn’t start at Stonewall,” said John D’Emilio, University of Illinois Chicago history professor and co-author of “Intimate Matters: A History of Sexuality in America.”

In this Saturday, Feb. 26, 2011 photo, Art Smith, who served as Oprah Winfrey’s personal chef, speaks during an interview in Miami Beach, Fla. Smith is among those from the LGBT community who have signed up for the fall 2014 CookOUT/RockOUT event. Festival founder Bruce Seidel says of the event, “Itís a way to showcase, in a positive, fun light, diversity within the food world.” (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

By Associated Press

LOS ANGELES – Something new is coming to the parade of food festivals springing up around the country — CookOUT/RockOUT, a food and music event celebrating LGBT chefs and other food luminaries will take root in Los Angeles this fall.

“It’s a way to showcase, in a positive, fun light, diversity within the food world,” said festival founder Bruce Sei­del, adding that the goal is to show “people that, ‘Hey, gay people are everywhere, and this is a way to celebrate that, whether you’re gay or not.’ ”

Author and lesbian activist Jeanne Cordova is scheduled to be the keynote speaker at the Long Beach Dyke March on May 16. Photo by Susan Forrest.

LONG BEACH – These sisters are doing it for themselves.

Women will take to the streets May 16 for the second annual Long Beach Dyke March, which will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Bixby Park, 130 Cherry Avenue.

The goal of the march is to increase lesbian visibility, but has grown to include bisexual and transgender women. Disparities in health, pay and equal opportunities are some of issues marchers will be protesting, said Denise Penn, a spokeswoman for the Dyke March.